Tag: Appeal

After spending over a year in a federal correctional institution, “Weev” Auernheimer’s conviction has been vacated by an appeals court. The U.S. government may try him again and critics of his prosecution hope Auernheimer’s plight will underscore the need to put an end to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit has dealt a terrible blow to Chris Hedges, Daniel Ellsberg, Noam Chomsky and the other activists and journalists suing to prevent the indefinite military detention of American citizens.

On the day it was announced that British unemployment had risen to close to 2.7 million people, a high court judge ruled that Occupy London protesters must dismantle their encampment on the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral in the city’s center. The protesters, who expressed both defiance and resolve, were given seven days to appeal the decision.

He may not walk free, especially if Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams has his say, but after decades of struggles and appeals, Mumia Abu-Jamal will not face the death penalty for his fiercely contested murder conviction in the killing of a police officer 30 years ago.

As WikiLeaks faces financial limitations caused by big corporations putting the squeeze on funding, the whistle-blowing site’s founder Julian Assange is still dealing with some considerable issues that could threaten his personal freedom—namely, the two allegations of rape and sexual assault that still await him in Sweden. (more)

In a second major ruling Monday, U.S. Supreme Court justices split along ideological lines to reject an Arizona campaign finance law that offered public funding to candidates unable to raise the enormous sums of money needed to run for political office. (more)

Same-sex couples hoping to tie the knot soon in California are going to have to wait awhile longer: The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Wednesday rejected a request to allow gay marriages to continue as the long-term fate of Proposition 8 remains to be seen.

On Wednesday, the Obama administration succeeded in its mission of reinstating the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regarding gays and lesbians among its ranks. As the San Francisco Chronicle reported that afternoon, a ... (continued)

This may seem counterintuitive, if not counterproductive, given that President Obama has made noises about opposing discrimination against GLBTQ members of the military, but the Obama administration is apparently preparing ... (continued)

The celebration about U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker’s ruling overturning California’s Proposition 8 hardly got under way before a trio of federal appellate judges put the kibosh on it all on Monday by putting gay marriage on the shelf for the time being.

Citing the specter of terrorism, an appeals court overturned a decision that would have forced New York City to turn over documents detailing the surveillance of demonstrators, street performers and other ne’er-do-wells who may have threatened the 2004 Republican convention ... and our national security, of course.

Legal battles famously have a way of dragging on, but in the case of the ongoing tussle over Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” during the 2004 Super Bowl, it’s getting a little ridiculous. Yes, that was six years ago. No, the involved parties are not done with their various attempts at fining and appealing said fines.

After a Kafkaesque series of house arrests, pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will have her day in court. The Supreme Court in Myanmar has finally agreed to hear an appeal against her most recent detention.

After his legal team came up short Tuesday with its request that Swiss officials reconsider his recent arrest and release him on bail, film director Roman Polanski remained behind bars, unable to spend his time awaiting his fate from his resort home in Gstaad.

Former CBS anchor Dan Rather has come up short—$70 million short, in fact—in his bid to sue his ex-employers at the network for relieving him of his desk duty following a 2004 report he delivered about then-President George W. Bush’s National Guard service during the Vietnam War era.

Citing such sketchy precedents as rulings in the cases of Enron’s Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, Bernard Madoff’s legal team filed an appeal at a New York federal court on Friday requesting that their client be released on bail until he is sentenced on June 16.

Two of Britain’s biggest networks, Sky and the BBC, have refused to air a two-minute fundraising appeal on behalf of Gaza. The decision not to broadcast the spot, produced by a committee made up of Britain’s biggest aid agencies, has triggered public outcry, condemnation from politicians and a formal investigation by the BBC Trust.

After coming to its public relations senses, medical firm Johnson & Johnson has decided it wouldn’t be wise to proceed with a lawsuit against the Red Cross charity over a trademark agreement made in 1895. The initial case was brought by the firm after the Red Cross began to sell safety kits to fundraise for its many disaster-relief campaigns.

As many as 166,000 children could be counted as truants in California after the 2nd District Court of Appeal launched a statewide initiative to ensure that home-schoolers were being taught by credentialed teachers.

The Supreme Court rejected an appeal related to the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretap program on Tuesday, offering no explanation. The American Civil Liberties Union and others have had a hard time proving the plaintiffs were spied on because the evidence they need is considered a government secret.

I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby has made the “tactical” decision to drop his appeal. After all, why spend millions of dollars in legal fees when you still have friends in high places? President Bush earlier commuted Libby’s sentence, keeping the former Cheney aide out of prison but leaving him with a criminal record and a fine. The White House won’t comment on whether Bush intends to pardon Libby.

German citizen Khaled el-Masri’s quest for justice, following his “extraordinary rendition,” has come to an end. Masri claims he was kidnapped by CIA operatives in late 2003 and tortured for months in an Afghan prison, but his case was closed on Tuesday when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider his appeal.

I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby Jr.‘s chances of avoiding time in the slammer are looking slim after Thursday’s ruling by Federal Judge Reggie B. Walton rejecting Libby’s lawyers’ request that their client remain free to roam while he appeals his conviction for perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements related to the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity in 2003.

Although a judge recently ruled Bush’s warrentless wiretapping program unconstitutional, a federal court unanimously agreed to keep the program running until an appeal is decided, though the three judges involved gave little explanation as to how they reached their decision.

The New York Court of Appeals stated last week that it upheld a gay marriage ban because gay couples make more stable parental units than heterosexual couples—and thus the latter need the benefits of marriage to assist them. The reasoning behind this is wild, but it’s also insidious. Check it out.